For those of you based in San Francisco, the San Francisco Center for the Book is offering three classes in July related to "Mail Art" taught by Jennie Hinchcliff.

On July 11th, 6:30 - 9:30 p.m., she will be offering Mail Art 101 for $55 plus a $12 materials fee.

Create your own mail art in homage to or interpretation of masters of the genre. Learn about the influence of surrealism, fluxus and other art movements on mail art while Jennie shows examples and ephemera. This combination of history and hands-on experience will get you started and up-to-speed with the mail art world.

On July 18th, 6:30 - 9:30 p.m., the center will offer Mail Art 202: An Envelope is Only the Beginning, also for $55 plus a $12 materials fee.

Push the mail art envelope. Learn about the intricacies of artists' stamps, faux postage, envelope construction and what defines a piece of mail as art. You'll create surprising, inspiring structures that challenge notions of what can be sent through the mail. Students will interact via the U.S. Postal Service.

On July 25th, 6:30 - 9:30 p.m., the center will offer Faux Postage, $55 + $12 materials fee.

Learn the basics of creating faux postage, or artists' stamps. The Center's vintage perforator adds such a realistic touch that your work may fool most people. You'll go home with a whole sheet of artists' stamps. This class is the perfect complement to Jennie's classes on mail art.

For the discounted price of $145 you can also enroll in all three classes.

The SFCB is located at 300 De Haro St, San Francisco, CA 94103. Call 415.565.0545 to make class reservations.

We here at the Modern Letter Project HQ are pretty enthusiastic about the 1000 Journals Project, described as:

an ongoing collaborative experiment attempting to follow 1000 journals throughout their travels. The goal is to provide a method for interaction and shared creativity among friends and strangers.

With similar goals for interaction and shared creativity here at MLP, we were excited to see the recent release of the 1000 Journals Project book, published by Chronicle Books.

Featuring 212 colored pages--a compilation of the best selections from journals that have traveled the world over--the book includes personal stories, from humorous-to-tear jerking, tactile thread-stitched pages, maps, and diagrams.

To read more about the 1000 Journals Project, you can visit their "about" page, look at more pictures of the new book online, buy the book at Amazon, or join the latest version of the project, 1001 Journals.

Reminder!
We're halfway through June, so if you haven't sent your June letter out yet, this is a great weekend to relax outside and get writing. Remember to upload your photos to Modern Letter Project Flickr Pool and to send us your stories!

We thought it'd be great to see where our letters are coming from so we threw together a quick map locating our participants. Click HERE to see the map.

A few stats:
+ Brooklyn is the most heavily represented city with 32 participants!
+ Jackson, Mississippi and Chicago, Illinois come in a distant second with 6 participants apiece
+ Canada is the most well-represented country outside of the United States with 7 participants. Germany comes in second with 4 participants.